30k Imperial Knight WIP 4 Pre-Weathering

I weathered the faceplate of the knight, but not the rest of it. These are the last photos of the knight pre paint chipping, oils, and weathering powders. Hopefully all goes well, as two more of this knight's brethren are inbound.

I have not decided how to base the knight, so I decided to cast up some broken concrete as a temporary base. The feet will be weathered to match this.

I broke out the photo booth to try and take better photos. There is still too much light, causing the model to look more washed out than it is in person, but I think I've improved my photography none the less.

30K Imperial Knight With Interior WIP 4

The Knight Titan walks! (albeit for a short time since I expect it was destroyed on Istavaan III along with all of the other loyalist forces in the Warmaster's army.) There are so many details to still put on the model, bot in terms of little bits not yet glued, and areas to paint. However with so much painted I couldn't resist dry fitting it together and taking some photos.

I had intended to have the shield completed, but after painting it green with white stripes I noticed that I had painted them the wrong direction. It looks a little weird on the model. It won't take long to repaint, but it is disappointing. The last thing I need to do is create more work no this model, when I have a load of areas awaiting touchups already.

I've said it before, but I can't wait to weather this model.

Imperial Knight WIP3

The basic colors are finally done on the torso. Definitely some caveats here though, since many areas need significant touch ups. My goal was to get the basics done so I could assemble the model, and then go back and clean up and shade lackluster areas. After that I have transfers to add followed by pin washes.

So the big oops is not knowing the orientation of the shoulder pads. I painted the personal heraldry on the wrong one. Maybe I can justify this as a 30k thing? There are going to be Sons of Horus Legion symbol on it proclaiming that this knight swore an oath to the warmaster during the great crusade.

30K Imperial Knight WIP 2

I've added some color to the armor of the Imperial knight. The idea is to tone down the flashy knight colors and go with a scheme that will work well with my Sons of Horus army. There is a load of work to do, including repainting the view screens, and tightening up the panel lines, but this guy is starting to come together. I am really looking forward to adding rust, oil streaks, and grime streaks to it.

Adding An Interior To An Imperial Knight

I picked up an Imperial Knight today along with the rest of the GW community. The model is fantastic, but it is missing a cockpit. Since the hatch is removable, It seemed a shame to build it without adding interior detail. So after a quick raid of my bits box, and a few minutes with a dremel, I was ready to go. Using my Warhound titan as a reference, I added a command throne, sensors, pipes, hoses, and other random equipment. Not much can be seen through the opening, but it does look cool.

*Edit --I added some shots of the interior as seen through the hatch. It is easier to see in person than capture with the camera.

Castellex Battle-Automata Based

The Battle-Automata is complete! I was worried about the amount of weathering initially, but after I added highlighting, pigments, and dust, I think it turned out great. This was definitely a case of the model looking better completed, than in process. I have 6 thallax and one Castellex of my own to build, but I think I will wait a while. The new Imperial Knights look fantastic, and since they exist pre-heresy, I think they will look spectacular alongside my Sons of Horus. At the moment I think a black and white heavily weathered force will look the best. My troops are EC purple, and SoH mint, so those colors will fit nicely. Knight houses aligned with  the Deaths Head Titan Legion will provide a little bit of traitor flavor to the force.

Hopefully this will convince my friend to start a heresy era force. Using this robot just for Malifaux would be a crime!

*edit just added fresh oil to all of the hydraulics and pistons. It makes a huge difference!

Castellex Battle-Automata

This Castellex is a gift for friend who intends to use it as part of a Malifaux crew. The brute will be the only robot amongst a bunch of gun slinging cow girls, so to compliment all of the browns in his force I stuck with a blue paint scheme. The weathering is heavy, but I think it will come together once the dust and dirt are added. I imagined the old robot taking a beating in the malifaux setting, so it had to look like a rust bucket. I used the hair spray technique to chip the model. As much as I like the idea of this model, I hated putting it together. I don't know if I am super glue cursed, but this guy fell apart a dozen times. It is quite the fragile model.

next steps.....purit seal, then more work on the metallics. The legs will get dusted with graveyard earth paint (or whatever the new one is called) and he'll be added to a scenic base.

Emperor's Children Rhino Paint Test

My Sons of Horus army was originally just intended to be an ally force for the Emperors Children force I have been preparing. As such it is time to finally paint some more Emperor's Children. As is standard for me these days (and I highly recommend it for everyone!) I picked up some spare parts and painted a test piece. I had a couple of goals:

• Figure out if I can remember the paint scheme (Royal Purple, and Violet Red tried here)
• See how AK Interactive dark brown oil wash and streaking grime would look.
• Try out sponge weathering to see if it would improve both armies
• See if Steel Legion Drab paint and Green Earth weathering powders would unify the model.

I am on the fence about this. I've been watching a bunch of Mig Jimenez videos and reading his books and I think I might be falling back on well known techniques rather than really pushing my painting.

There are a few things that would be different on a real and not test piece. The insets would likely be painted in the white-grey color on my SoH pieces, and there would be gold detailing as befits a vehicle from the Emperor's Children. The while would help show off the weathering, and the gold would provide the purple<->yellow contrast providing visual interest.